Landfill Cleanup Plan In Works

Residents Want Health Study First

February 14, 1998|By ROBIN BENEDICK Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE — Twenty years after the gates closed at the polluted Wingate landfill and incinerator, a $20 million cleanup may finally begin.

City officials said on Friday they have reached a final settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and private companies that used the dump. That agreement covers who will pay and how much.

City commissioners will be asked to approve the deal on Tuesday night. Residents will be invited to public meetings to talk about future uses of the property.

No timetable has been set for the cleanup. It could be months before the pact is official and work begins to cover the landfill with a plastic cap. The cap is meant to contain contamination and prevent rainwater from leaking into the ground.

``It's frustrating to everyone that it's dragged on so long,'' said Greg Kisela, the city's public services director. ``We are definitely ready to move on.''

Not everyone cheered the pact.

Some neighbors are threatening to sue to stop the cleanup because it would leave contaminated soil at the dump.

They also vow to boycott products made by 20 companies that will share in cleanup costs.

``I am outraged by this, and it's totally unacceptable,'' said Leola McCoy, a neighborhood leader who lives about a half-mile from the landfill, at 1300 NW 31st Ave.

Residents are angry that the cleanup is going forward before an in-depth health study is done. They have complained for years that polluted water seeping from the city-owned dump is making them sick.

Epidemiologists have found that residents living within a mile of the dump have higher-than-normal rates of some cancers, but they cannot pinpoint causes or say the illnesses are related to Wingate.

Residents also want contaminated soil dug up and trucked out of their neighborhood instead of left on the 60-acre site and covered with thick plastic. The landfill is surrounded by small single-family homes, storefronts and industrial businesses.

Neighbors who want to stop the cleanup are at odds with their city commissioner, Carlton Moore. He wants to proceed with the cleanup and focus on future uses of the site. ``This is only doing what we should have done long ago,'' Moore said.

Wingate operated from 1954 to 1978. Workers burned heaps of garbage, blanketing the neighborhood with flying ash and a sooty cloud, residents said. More than 1,400 companies used the dump over the years, but the EPA found enough evidence that only 35 companies, including the Sun-Sentinel Co., should contribute to cleanup costs.

Further investigations whittled the number to 20 companies that will pay. Their names were not available on Friday, and may not be until they sign the deal, officials said.

In recent months, residents have won some concessions, though not the firm commitment they want for a health study before the cleanup begins. The EPA has promised to ensure that the state Health Department conducts a cancer study.

Officials agreed three months ago to take a second look at the cleanup plan. Since then, they have decided to remove some of the most toxic residue from the incinerators _ 150 cubic yards of soil laced with dioxin that originally was to be left behind.

The EPA agreed to do additional soil sampling, though residents worry that once the pact is signed, there won't be money available if more contamination is found.

The settlement comes 14 years after the city first proposed leaving contaminated dirt on the lushly landscaped property and covering it with plastic. That was before Wingate became a federal Superfund site, which added years and millions of dollars to the process. Meanwhile, the city has spent $2.5 million on lawyers and studies, Kisela said.

The deal is not much different from a tentative pact reached last May. That settlement hinged on the EPA waiving as much as $4 million in oversight costs. The agency has agreed to forgive about half that amount, and credit the city for the rest.

The city is paying about $13.3 million, or 83 percent of the $16 million in cleanup costs, which excludes the $4 million for EPA's oversight.

Fort Lauderdale residents have been paying for the cleanup through a 6 percent hike in garbage rates approved in April 1995. The increase raises about $750,000 a year, and the city plans to issue bonds for the remainder.

The deal will be filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale once it is signed. The public will have 30 days to submit written comments. A judge will determine whether the pact meets federal guidelines. That could take three to six months.